Written as an email home from his cruise ship stop
at the port of Venice, Italy

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Published in the Travel section of USA Today

Iwent to church this morning.

I woke up at 5 a.m. unable to get back to sleep. The view of Venice
outside my stateroom window slowly turned from dark to dawn, and I knew I had to
take a walk.

Our cruise ship was parked
around to the back of Venice,
and tourists had to take a 20
minute boat ride to the famous
St. Mark's Square to visit the
city. I did that
yesterday.

But I learned that I could walk it from the
cruise ship in a half hour, given I find my
way out of the harbor correctly, squeeze
through a particular gap in the
back-shipyard
fencing, and navigate the right direction
through the walkways.
The Sun was not even up yet, and
the view beckoned me.At 6:30 I grabbed a continental breakfast and off I went.

You have to imagine this.
It's Sunday morning, very early.
No one is out. The
hallways (as I call them) were
empty and quiet. The
canals were still and the mist
of the warm ocean air was fresh
and beautiful. I strolled
through the neighborhoods of the
Venetian people, where they live
apart from tourism.

I walked along the cobblestone
walkways as in a maze of ancient
buildings, medieval churches,
small hideaway gardens, shops,
and beautiful old bridges
crossing over occasional canals.

I came upon the Grand Canal
which runs through the heart of
Venice. I cannot
adequately describe the awesome
experience it was to stand on
the famous Rialto Bridge in the
quiet early morning, as the Sun
shined on part of the buildings
and a lone boat crossed
underneath me.

After a few minutes I found
myself at Piazza San Marco (St.
Mark's Square). A few
hours from then thousands of
people will be there. But
there I stood at this
magnificent place among a
handful of people.

St. Mark's Cathedral was closed to tourists, but not for mass. I
walked with the locals into the side entrance for early mass, and
discreetly sat down and listened to a sermon in Italian. The
grandeur of that place is unlike any building I have ever seen.

I prayed during their moment of silence, that God would be glorified in
this place.